discrmination

Hello, david5684.

Is this High School, or Middle School? In what grades are most of the varsity players?


In the basketball situation, is there a JV girls team for the 8th grader to play on? Is the coach wanting to move her up to a boys team, or up to a girls varsity team? If this is discrimination, what would the AD be discriminating against, the young age of the player?

discrimination
This is high school,the girls basketball team only had seven players at the time.The discrimination would come because he let a boy move up but would not allow the girl to move on the girls team.

Okay. Which team only had 7 players ... the varsity? Is there a JV team for the 8th grader to play on? Does the school have a policy against 8th graders playing on a varsity team, unless there is no JV team available?

discrimination
The girls varsity only had 7 players.Yes,there was a jv team,the coach believed she was good enough to play at the varsity level.She had played aau and summer basketball against varsity level kids.She would have been the best defensive player on the team.

Does the school or school board have a policy against 8th graders playing on a varsity team, unless there is no JV team available?

No

No policy

I'm not aware of schools where kids as young as 8th grade are permitted to play on a High School varsity team, so this is a new on on me, but in any event, boys and girls are supposed to receive fair and equal treatment in schools. I presume 9th graders are permitted to play varsity if they are good enough to make the team? Assuming that's the case, the AD may be drawing a distinction between 8th graders and 9th graders in terms of allowing them to play on varsity teams. Apparently the AD has claimed the prior instance of allowing an 8th grader to play on a varsity team was a unique situation, and may very well claim the decision in that case was made because there was no JV team available for the 8th grader to play on, because it folded. The AD's decision is not helped by the fact there is no policy in place -- written, at least -- but it certainly appears as if the AD has an argument that the the decision to not allow her to play up with the varsity was because he/she does not believe 8th graders -- of either gender -- should play with the varsity if there is a junior varsity team available to them. Thus, the decision to not allow the 8th grader was based on that (unwritten?) policy, and not based upon the gender of the student, and since she can play JV he opposes her playing varsity.

Bottom line: It may or may not be discrimination, but it appears to me the AD may be able to articulate a rational, non-discriminatory reason for his/her decision.